Jewellery stocks glitter as 18-day strike ends

Jewellers on Saturday called off their 18-day old strike demanding rollback of proposed excise duty on non-silver jewellery after government assured them that there will be no harassment by excise officials.

MUMBAI: Jewellery stocks today rose sharply by up to 8 per cent after jewellers called off their 18-day old strike demanding rollback of proposed excise duty on non- silver jewellery.

Jewellers on Saturday called off their 18-day old strike demanding rollback of proposed excise duty on non-silver jewellery after government assured them that there will be no harassment by excise officials.

Over 3 lakh jewellers from more than 300 associations kept their establishments closed across the country since March 2 after Finance MinisterArun Jaitley in the budget for 2016-17 announced one per cent excise duty on non-silver jewellery.

The 18-day long strike by jewellers is estimated to have caused loss of Rs 60,000-70,000 crore to the industry.